This is the most wild experience, I’ve ever had. You never know what you will see on a safari, so getting a glimpse of an actual kill was overwhelming, and I felt so lucky!
Many countries offer safari experiences. We went to Zimbabwe for our first trip to sub-Saharan Africa in 2013, because my husband had a friend there working for the Danish embassy. Zimbabwe is not a wildly touristy country, which gives a lot of problems with transportation, but also means having the animals to yourself.
You obviously want to see the big five on safari. We hadn’t seen any lions in our first safari in UNESCO-listed park Mana Pools. But in Hwange, the lions were not hard to find. They lurked around our camp and hang out on the road.
And on the second day, this happened:
We sat there for a couple of hours, and I could have stayed forever. But in the end my son of 8 years got bored(!), and we turned back.
As you can see, there was one other car, but otherwise we were the only ones there and the only guests in the camp. One morning I sat with one of the rangers around the fire eating breakfast and 3 lions passed us by 10 meters away. I stopped breathing but I knew they had just eaten a buffalo, so a small travelling Dane was probably not interesting. They looked at us – and then walked on towards the carcass.
We came back the day after to check on the carcass, and the lions were still there. But the buffalo was just bones and hide. When I tell friends the story, many say that it’s sad for the buffalo. But if the lions don’t eat, they will die.
And a lot of other animals benefit from the death of the buffalo: the scavengers – the hyenas and the vultures eating the leftover parts and some of the bones as well! There is not a part of the animal, that is not used. The small jackal always following the lions snatched the stomach and ran to it’s cubs hiding in a old tree trunk. That is the circle of life and what humans are doing are much worse!
The jackal grabbed the stomach lying on the left side
The vultures waited for several days
sad
WILDLIFE PRESERVATION IN HWANGE
We visited the national park back in 2013. As you might have heard of a lion called Cecil was shot in Hwange two years later, but the males we saw were too small to be Cecil. Cecil’s male son was also shot, but he also looked different than the one in this video.
You can see some of the lions are wearing a brown box around their neck. It is part of a wildlife research and protection program. Read more here: http://www.panthera.or
Find official website of zimparks and Hwange here.
There are of course other animals than lions in Hwange. They even have Walking Safaris. If this doesn’t make you wanna go on a safari I don’t know. If you love elephants, try Join a safari in Mana Pools, Zimbabwe. If you want to explore the more cultural side of Zimbabwe, try to Find the Hidden Treasure in Great Zimbabwe! or Prehistoric Art & Balancing Rocks near Harare.
Have you been on safari?
WOW! Very interesting and graphic! I saw buffalo carcasses several times in Tanzania but always when it had been mostly eaten – just the hyenas, jackals and vultures were there to pick the bones.
Yes, we were pretty lucky. I really like to go on a safari again and maybe it should be Tanzania.
[…] If you’re going to Zimbabwe, I also have tips on Visiting Victoria Falls in the dry season! or what’s it like to experience Lions killing and eating a buffalo in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. […]